Newfoundland and Labrador MP Seamus O’Regan is taking over the challenging role of minister of Veterans Affairs, replacing Calgary MP Kent Hehr — and he’s already getting mixed reviews from his new constituency.

The rookie MP, who represents St. John’s South-Mount Pearl, is a former broadcaster and host of Canada AM. O’Regan was also involved in provincial politics in Newfoundland and Labrador. He was an aide to former justice minister Ed Roberts and a senior advisor to former premier Brian Tobin.

Aaron Bedard, a veterans advocate and an adviser on the Veterans Affairs Mental Health Advisory Group, said governments “love to change out figureheads when there’s pressure on a file,” adding that the problem with Veterans Affairs is its bureaucracy.

Bedard was a combat engineer from in 2002-2010 and fought in the first combat mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2006. He took issue with the fact that none of the staff in Hehr’s office were veterans — and hopes that changes under O’Regan.

“There is no veterans presence in the (minister’s) office, not one in the staff, and they have 12 veterans in that party. Veterans aren’t feeling the warm and fuzzy with the new face. He is not veteran. That’s a huge issue,” Bedard said of O’Regan.

Bruce Moncur, a former soldier who also fought in Afghanistan, echoed Bedard’s concern about the lack of veterans in the office. He said he thinks the government is sending a message with O’Regan’s appointment that it doesn’t take the department seriously — because if it did, it would have replaced Hehr with a veteran, as Stephen Harper did when he appointed Erin O’Toole to the post.

But Moncur also said he’s not too discouraged by the appointment. He mentioned that O’Regan’s brother, Danny, is in the military.

Moncur also suggested that O’Regan often had very positive things to say about veterans on Canada AM.

“I think he’ll be more engaging, and he will not get as prickly with the veteran community as Kent Hehr did.”

Greg MacEachern, a former Liberal strategist and current senior vice president of government relations at Environics Communications, said it’s a smart move to appoint O’Regan to VA because it addresses “a strong communications need in that portfolio.”

“During the election the Liberals did an incredible amount of outreach to military and veterans and as a result it raised expectations about what this government would be doing for veterans,” said MacEachern, who said he went to university with O’Regan and has known him personally for a long time.

MacEachern said O’Regan — who sought treatment for alcohol abuse in January 2016 — “has a lot to be proud of.”

“It’s one thing to raise your hand and say I have a problem. It’s another to do that as a public official. I can only imagine how much more difficult that was,” said MacEachern.

Hehr was appointed the new minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities.

Moncur acknowledged that O’Regan is a close friend of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and said there appears to be a bit of favouritism involved in the appointment.

It was reported in January that O’Regan and his husband joined Trudeau and his family for a New Year’s holiday at the private island in the Bahamas owned by billionaire philanthropist and spiritual leader the Aga Khan.

Taking questions from reporters following the swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall, O’Regan said, “The values that will guide me, I think, will be compassion and care and respect, and those will guide the judgments and decisions we make during my tenure as a minister.”

When asked what he would say to critics who say the government likes to appoint its friends, he said, “I’m just thankful for the opportunity and to have the confidence of the prime minister.”